Montgomery McFate | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mitzy Carlough[1] (1966-01-08)January 8, 1966 (age 59) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard Law School (JD, 1997) Yale University (PhD, Anthropology, 1994) University of California, Berkeley (BA, Anthropology) |
| Known for | Study of counterinsurgency and insurgent populations, anthropology of warfare |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anthropology |
| Institutions | United States NavyNaval War College,Minerva Chair, 2011– United States ArmyHuman Terrain System, Senior Social Scientist, 2007–2010 United States Institute of Peace 2006–2007 Office of Naval Research RAND Corporation |
Montgomery McFate (also known asMontgomery Sapone[citation needed] and nicknamedMitzy; born January 8, 1966[2]) is acultural anthropologist, adefense andnational security analyst,[3] and former Science Advisor to theUnited States ArmyHuman Terrain System program. As of 2011, she holds theMinerva Chair (Strategic Research) at the U.S.Naval War College.[4]
McFate was raised in thehouseboat community inSausalito, California, at the time a "hippie" community. Her parents were artists and associates with such figures asJack Kerouac andLawrence Ferlinghetti.[2][5] She grew up in poverty, living on a convertedbarge with no plumbing. In high school, McFate spent much of her time in the burgeoning early-1980sSan Francisco punk scene, but at the same time, was a strong student with an academic focus, earning numerous scholarship that helped put her through college.[2] During this time, McFate was a close friend ofCintra Wilson, and the character Lorna in her novelColors Insulting to Nature is largely based on the young McFate.[1]
She went on to studyanthropology atUC Berkeley and as a graduate student atYale University. McFate developed an interest in the conflict studies and the culture ofinsurgent groups, and did herdoctoral dissertation onIrish Republicansocial networks and cultural narratives and the role that these played in maintaining theIrish Republican Army insurgency. As part of this research process, she spent several years living among IRA supporters and later among Britishcounterinsurgents. After earning her PhD in anthropology in 1994, McFate went on to study law atHarvard Law School, earning aJuris Doctor in 1997.[2][5]
While in graduate school, she married a US Army officer, Sean Sapone (the two would later adopt the maiden surname of his mother, Mary McFate). After earning her JD, she spent the next several years, variously, as an associate in a San Francisco law firm, working forhuman rights organizations, and as atravel writer. It is also alleged that during this time Montgomery and Sean McFate worked as private spies for Mary McFate's security firm.[1][2][5][6]
It was after theSeptember 11 attacks that McFate found what she describes as her "mission": to get the military to understand the importance of "cultural knowledge". McFate has stated that she became "passionate about one issue: the government’s need to actually understand its adversaries". In McFate's opinion, during theCold War, the United Statesdefense establishment developed a very good understanding of the Soviet Union, with the ultimate result of that the US triumphed in that conflict. On the other hand, she holds that the military and defense establishment has a very poor understanding of the cultures of the Middle East, resulting in such debacles as theAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal.[2][5]
Over the next several years, McFate worked as a defenseconsultant for theRand Corporation, theOffice of Naval Research, and theUnited States Institute of Peace. In 2004, she was contacted by Dr. Hariar Cabayan, the Science Advisor to theJoint Chiefs of Staff J3 about developing new counterinsurgency strategies in theIraq War.[5] Ultimately, this led to the development of the Cultural Preparation of the Environment CPE database developed by MITRE Corporation. The CPE tool was never fielded and the CPE program ended in August 2005. While she is reported in some circles to have been one of the primary architects of the HTS program, she was not. TheHuman Terrain System program was established between August 2005 and July 2006 by the US Army's Foreign Military Studies Office directed at the time by Dr. Jacob Kipp. Some time in 2007, McFate joined HTS as the Social Science Advisor.[citation needed] Additionally, she was one of hundreds of contributing authors of the US Army's revisedCounterinsurgency Field Manual FM 3-24. While many take credit for authorship, the primary author of the FM wasLTC Jan Horvath.[7]
McFate is alleged in several magazine articles to have been the blogger "Pentagon Diva", who briefly ran a blog called "I Luv a Man in Uniform" where she commented on the "hotness" of variousDepartment of Defense officials and analysts.[1][8]
The relationship between anthropologists and the military has long been the subject of controversy. Nevertheless, by the late 1960s, most Western anthropologists had come to reject such collaboration as a breach of trust between anthropologistparticipant observers and the people they study, endangering the welfare of both parties. TheAmerican Anthropological Association eventually adopted a policy against such collaboration.[citation needed]
McFate sought to reverse this trend, holding that it was possible for a mutually beneficial relationship to emerge between the US military and the populations that insurgency sprang from. This approach, however, has largely been negatively received by the anthropological community, and the American Anthropological Association issued resolutions in 2007 and 2008 condemning the kind of military/anthropological collaboration McFate had called for.[citation needed]
TheHuman Terrain System was condemned by the American Anthropological Association in November 2007, which called it an "unacceptable application of anthropological expertise."[1] The program also came under fire for allegedly poor organization and execution and limited effectiveness.[9]
A 2010 audit by the Army's Auditing Agency (AAA) identified weaknesses in the program's execution.[citation needed] The final AAA investigation, completed in the summer of 2014, did not uncover any significant weaknesses in the program's execution, and found that the program offered significant value to military units.[citation needed]
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